Jumping In to the Deep End

I've rarely been one who gets all the information before jumping into a situation.  If I want to do something, I do it, and pay whatever consequences later. That's not to say that I'm reckless--at least, I don't think of myself that way--but I'm not someone who likes to do a bunch of research before doing things that I'm interested in.  I'm much more impulsive than that.

I say this in relation to trying out new activities.  For instance, when I wanted a new quilt years ago, I bought some fabric and started sewing it together, rather than read up on it first.  I had never made a quilt before then, and I didn't follow a pattern (other than the one in my head), nor did I know what size I was shooting for.  I simply measured my bed and added a couple inches.  It wound up taking me quite a while to finish the quilt--and there were many times I had to pull out the stitching and redo what I’d spent so much time on--but I was proud of myself for having done it.  I’ve even made quite a few of them since, and still haven't looked at a quilting book for tips.

Then, there was the time I got a free couch off of Craigslist that needed new upholstery.  I did find a book on the subject and glanced through it, but I got a little bored with all the detail described in the book.  So I decided to just take the old fabric off, cut the new pieces of cloth from the old ones, and reattach the new pieces.  That project also included some altering every now and then.  There are some small gaps in the fabric here and there, but unless I point them out, most people can't tell.  Those gaps wouldn't be there if I'd taken it to a professional, but the couch has still served us well these last 3 years.

I use this same approach in my writing, apparently.  I recently decided to e-publish a short story of mine on Amazon and Smashwords.  I know there is much speculation about whether that’s a wise thing for an unknown author to do, but I also know me.  If I take the time to learn all the ins and outs of the publishing world, I'm sure I would get overwhelmed, and wind up not following through with it.  Whether out of boredom or fear I'm not sure . . . probably a little of both.  So I’d much rather jump into the deep end of the pool, as it were, and learn how to swim through all the mistakes and rough patches that will come my way.  I've no doubt that there will be many lessons I could've learned before taking this big a leap, but I find that doing it this way makes it more interesting to me.

So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce my short story . . .

High school sophomore Tabitha Patterson receives her first paid assignment: follow Sarah's boyfriend and find out who the redhead is that he's been seen with. With the help of her best friend, Stu, Tab discovers that--in order to solve a mystery--sometimes you have to get your hands a little dirty . . .

You can download it at the following sites:

          Amazon.com for Kindle at:  Sarah and the Other Woman
          Smashwords for other e-readers at:  Sarah and the Other Woman

I hope you enjoy the story.  Now, I’m off to dive into the Marketing deep end . . .